


For Warmth

by Himring



Series: Gloom, Doom and Maedhros [109]
Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Beleriand, Fire, First Age, Gen, Past Violence, The Noldor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-01 15:14:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20817248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Himring/pseuds/Himring
Summary: Elrond, just after the fall of the Havens of Sirion, among the followers of the House of Feanor:Two points of view, on the subject of fire.





	For Warmth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rina Blackcat](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Rina+Blackcat).

> The story features my OFC Naurthoniel, former house-keeper of Maedhros in Himring, and was inspired by a comment by Rina Blackcat (more on this in the end notes).

She had made fire in dark times before. Whether they had been as dark as this—her numb brain rejected comparisons, but her hands knew their task. She moved with the economy of long experience, piling wood and kindling.  
  
An unfamiliar stillness at the edge of sight made her look up. One of the two boys was watching her. She thought of the sting of smoke that clung still to her lord and his soldiers. She remembered refugees from the Dagor Bragollach flinching at each strike of flint.  
  
‘We need boiling water,’ she said, failing to smile, ‘for the healers.’

* * *

  
  
Elrond watched the woman making fire as if he was seeing it done the very first time. Only a few hours’ ride ago—a world in which fire had escaped restraint and gone on a violent rampage. Like the people. He almost felt flames still licking his skin, smoke poisoning his lungs.  
  
But this small flame catching hold of the kindling was friendly, was for warmth. The woman kept it carefully under control.  
  
He learned, later, that she had been named for kindling fire, long before he met her. That was, he thought, how he would have named her, too.

**Author's Note:**

> This double drabble originally arose out of discussion whether the name Naurthoniel was correct Sindarin. (Technically, it's not, in fact, but I'm sticking to the name despite that, as the name is so well established in the series that I don't want to start tweaking it.)  
Rina commented on my further worries about the intended meaning of the name: "woman who kindles fire", pointing out that, even though Naurthoniel was of course not the first to kindle fire ever, a particular time she made fire could still be very significant in the eyes of someone who knew her, just as if it was the first time (and so worth naming for).
> 
> There is also a glimpse of her and Elrond slightly later in the same period here:  
[**Feanorian Housekeeping**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7088701)


End file.
